Sometimes Even Superman Crashes

Yesterday, preschool was here at our house. The baby is teething, so he wasn't exactly allowing me to get much done. I was busy carrying him around (all 22 pounds of him) while trying to help 6 preschool children do a craft. It wasn't working very well at all. He was screaming his head off and the kids were losing attention fast. Dang.

So, I decided that it would be "break time" for the kids, so I could make the baby a quick bottle and calm him down. I told the kids that they could play downstairs in the toy room for just a few minutes.

Just a minute later I heard a big bang downstairs, followed by Sam's full blown, filled with absolute shock, scream, at the top of his lungs. The scream was followed by his usual holding his breath until he almost (or sometimes does) passes out. I ran down there as fast as I could. Sam would not calm down. After this, he continued to cry and cry and cry. He was holding his foot and wouldn't let go. He refused to walk.

After questioning several "witnesses," I learned that Sam was showing everyone that he can fly. And he did so from the VERY TOP STEP. Probably 9 steps high.

Unfortunately, Sam didn't quite clear the very last step, where his foot caught the brunt of the crash landing. You see, Sam is sure that some part of him is Buzz Lightyear, Superman, Batman, or some flying superhero. He is also pretty sure that he can fly, if he can just get up high enough.


He cried for the rest of preschool, which was over an hour. Between Sam and the baby, it was very chaotic, but we made it through somehow.

By the end of the day, Sam was walking, kind of. He has a very strong and very weird limp. He kept on asking me why it was STILL hurting. Sam bounces back really fast when he gets hurt, so this was new to him, and me. I wasn't sure what to say.

We went to the doctor today, where, when asked what happened, Sam told the doctor that he was flying. I filled in the blank by adding that Sam "flew" from the very top stair and "had a hard landing" at the bottom step. The doctor smiled and nodded. He was a trooper through the X-Ray stuff and even got two dinosaur stickers. He was told the the light from the X-ray machine was like a lazer beam, and that is all it took. Superman now was shot with a lazer beam and it "didn't even hurt." He must be sooooo strong!

The X-ray didn't show a clear break, but the doctor is pretty convinced that he has a hairline fracture on the side of his foot. She didn't cast his foot, and depending on the next few days, he may or may not get a "special power shoe that heals bones," a.k.a. a walking boot. We will see.

Sam has ALWAYS been a jumper, and I figured this day was "bound" to happen. No pun intended. hehehe I am grateful that it wasn't anything else worse, and I am really hoping that Sam has learned a good lesson.


On the way home from the doctor today, Sam said, "Mom, you know that even Superman crashes sometimes." And that was that.